Solothurn

Pre-Roman settlement The oldest finds from Solothurn probably date from the Paleolithic era. The remains of a Mesolithic camp were discovered in 1986 during renovations of the former Kino Elite building. From the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age, only a few scattered items have been discovered. Roman settlement The Roman settlement at Solothurn was probably built around AD 15–25 as a road station and bridge head on the road from Aventicum to Augusta Raurica or Vindonissa. A small vicus or settlement quickly developed around the castrum. Solothurn is first mentioned in 219 as vico salod[uro] It came to be known as Salodurum, this name believed to derive from a Celtic language, possibly meaning "Salo's fort," from the personal name Salo + Proto-Celtic *dūnom, meaning "fort" or "stronghold," likely influenced by the Latin durus, meaning "hard" or "strong," as in other place names. Its strategical importance lay in the position at the approach to the Rhine from southeast. In the 2nd–3rd century AD, the vicus expanded rapidly to fill almost all of what is now the old town of Solothurn, including a portion of today's suburb south of the Aare. Early Middle Ages In the Early Middle Ages there were two settlement centres, a secular settlement in the former castrum and a religious settlement on the grounds of the late-Roman cemeteries outside the walls. Both the religious histories and archeological discoveries indicate that both areas remained inhabited continuously into the Early Middle Ages. The former chapel of St. Stephen inside the castrum was built on the foundation of an earlier, late-Roman building. A burial memorial in the cemetery of the nearby St. Peter's Chapel dates to around the collapse of the Roman Empire. By the middle of the 5th century, St. Eucherius of Lyon mentions the martyrdom of St. Ursus and St. Victor and a cult of saints in Solothurn. About 500 AD, the Burgundian Princess Sedeleuba took the bones of St. Victor to Geneva, while the bones of St. Ursus remained in Solothurn. The church dedicated to the veneration of Saint Ursus is first mentioned in 870. In 1251 it was mentioned as saluerre and in 1275 as Solotren. Until the pogrom on 1348 during an outbreak of the plague, there was a small Jewish community in Solothurn. Over the 13th to 15th centuries, the citizens of the city slowly emancipated themselves from the higher nobility. In 1276 and 1280 Emperor Rudolf I codified the previously poorly defined rights of the city and granted it the privilege de non Evocando or the right that their citizens were protected from trial in foreign courts. In 1344 Solothurn acquired the right to appoint their own Schultheiss from the Count of Buchegg, which was confirmed by Emperor Charles IV in 1360. In 1409, Emperor Ruprecht extended the de non Evocando privilege to include the royal High Court as well. Early modern Solothurn The medieval cooperative election of the mayor and councillors led to the creation of a nearly hereditary oligarchy by the 15th century. By the second half of the 16th century, the political voice of citizens was nearly totally suppressed. By the second half of the 17th century, the government was run by a small group of patricians. The oligarchs were weakened in the 18th century, when in 1718–21 the city council managed to regain some powers. However, in 1682, a new citizenship law prevented wealthy families who had moved into Solothurn from becoming members of the council. While this law reduced the number of people who could be on the city council, the introduction of a secret ballot procedure in 1764 and measures against vote-buying in 1774 allowed more and more non-patrician burghers to join the council. In 1828 Solothurn became the seat of the Bishop of Basel. Since 1897, the municipal council has been elected by proportional voting and consists of 30 members and 15 alternate members. As the executive body, it elects the council commission (seven members). Mayor and Vice-Mayor are elected by the people. The municipal assembly is the legislative body. The composition of the council remained remarkably stable between 1917 and 1973. The Liberals held an average of 60% of the seats, the Social Democrats and the Conservative People's Party (CVP today), about 20% each. In 1970, the municipality granted voting rights for women. With the emergence of new parties, the Liberals lost its dominant position. 2009, the FDP 30%, SP 23%, CVP 23%, the Greens 17% and 7% of the votes go to the SVP. Rock band Krokus was formed in Solothurn in 1974. ==Geography==

Solothurn has an area, , of . Of this area, or 22.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 2.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 69.6% is settled (buildings or roads), or 5.3% is either rivers or lakes. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 4.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 38.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 17.5%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.9% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 7.5%. Out of the forested land, 0.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 14.2% is used for growing crops and 7.0% is pastures, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Solothurn is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains. ==Coat of arms==

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per fess Gules and Argent. ==Demographics==

Solothurn has a population () of . , 21.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 4.4%. Most of the population () speaks German (13,270 or 85.7%), with Italian being second most common (469 or 3.0%) and Albanian being third (261 or 1.7%). There are 193 people who speak French and 19 people who speak Romansh. Of the population in the municipality 3,864 or about 24.9% were born in Solothurn and lived there in 2000. There were 3,630 or 23.4% who were born in the same canton, while 4,135 or 26.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3,193 or 20.6% were born outside of Switzerland. , there were 6,784 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 6,403 married individuals, 1,144 widows or widowers and 1,158 individuals who are divorced. , there were 7,447 private households in the municipality, and an average of 1.9 persons per household. there were 8,586 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 2,954. There were 728 single room apartments and 1,634 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 7,272 apartments (84.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 794 apartments (9.2%) were seasonally occupied and 520 apartments (6.1%) were empty. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.45%. ==Historical population==

The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1100 height:500 PlotArea = height:350 left: 100 bottom:90 right:100 Legend = columns:3 left:220 top:70 columnwidth:160 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:18000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:4000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:800 start:0 Colors= id:TO value:yellowgreen legend:Total id:GE value:teal legend:German_Speaking id:FR value:green legend:French_Speaking id:CA value:lightpurple legend:Catholic id:PR value:oceanblue legend:Protestant id:SW value:red legend:Swiss PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from:start till:5370 text:"5,370" color:TO bar:1870a from:start till:7008 text:"7,008" color:TO bar:1888 from:start till:8317 text:"8,317" color:TO bar:1900 from:start till:10025 text:"10,025" color:TO bar:1910 from:start till:11688 text:"11,688" color:TO bar:1930 from:start till:13734 text:"13,734" color:TO bar:1950 from:start till:16743 text:"16,743" color:TO bar:1970 from:start till:17708 text:"17,708" color:TO bar:1990 from:start till:15748 text:"15,748" color:TO bar:2000 from:start till:15489 text:"15,489" color:TO LineData = points:(300,245)(400,271) color:GE points:(400,271)(500,300) color:GE points:(500,300)(600,340) color:GE points:(600,340)(700,393) color:GE points:(700,393)(800,381) color:GE points:(800,381)(900,352) color:GE points:(900,352)(1000,348) color:GE points:(300,95)(400,100) color:FR points:(400,100)(500,103) color:FR points:(500,103)(600,100) color:FR points:(600,100)(700,102) color:FR points:(700,102)(800,99) color:FR points:(800,99)(900,96) color:FR points:(900,96)(1000,94) color:FR points:(100,184)(200,201) color:CA points:(200,201)(300,199) color:CA points:(300,199)(400,209) color:CA points:(400,209)(500,217) color:CA points:(500,217)(600,227) color:CA points:(600,227)(700,242) color:CA points:(700,242)(800,277) color:CA points:(800,277)(900,228) color:CA points:(900,228)(1000,196) color:CA points:(100,100)(200,115) color:PR points:(200,115)(300,140) color:PR points:(300,140)(400,164) color:PR points:(400,164)(500,186) color:PR points:(500,186)(600,215) color:PR points:(600,215)(700,242) color:PR points:(700,242)(800,230) color:PR points:(800,230)(900,200) color:PR points:(900,200)(1000,179) color:PR points:(100,189)(200,216) color:SW points:(200,216)(300,240) color:SW points:(300,240)(400,267) color:SW points:(400,267)(500,295) color:SW points:(500,295)(600,338) color:SW points:(600,338)(700,398) color:SW points:(700,398)(800,382) color:SW points:(800,382)(900,347) color:SW points:(900,347)(1000,330) color:SW ==Main sights==

The old town was built between 1530 and 1792 and shows an architectural combination of Italian Grandezza, French style and Swiss ideas. In 1980, Solothurn was awarded the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage. Solothurn is home to 18 structures that are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance. The religious buildings on the list are; the Visitation Convent, the Jesuit Church with Kollegium (Lapidarium), the Swiss Reformed Church on Westringstrasse and the St. Ursen Cathedral. There are four civic buildings on the list; the old Armory which is now the Cantonal Museum, the Rathaus (city hall), the State Archives at Bielstrasse 41 and the nearby Central Library at Bielstrasse 39. Two other museums are on the list, the Art Museum and the Naturmuseum. There are two houses and two public objects on the list; the Haller-Haus (former Bishops Palace) at Baselstrasse 61, the Sommerhaus Vigier at Untere Steingrubenstrasse 21, the Mauritius Fountain and the town clock tower. Two castles are listed; the former Blumenstein Castle and Steinbrugg Castle. Finally, the list includes the old town of Salodurum which was a Roman era Vicus and the medieval and early modern city as well as the city walls. The entire old city of Solothurn is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. Sights include: • Aarhof • Besenval Palace • Cathedral of St. Ursus (1762–73). It was begun by Gaetano Matteo Pisoni and completed by Paolo Antonio Pisoni. The interior has stuccoes by Francesco Pozzi and canvasses by Domenico Corvi. • Church of the Jesuits (Jesuitenkirche, 1680–89) • Clock tower (Zeitglockenturm, 12th century) • Gate of Basel • Gate of Bienne • Kosciuszko Museum • Krone • Landhaus • Museum of the Old Arsenal (1609–14), housing the most ancient collection of armour in Europe. • Old town • The Verena Gorge and the Verena Gorge Hermitage • Waldegg Castle • Weissenstein mountain File:Soleure aar.JPG|The Aare as seen from the cathedral. File:Amthausplatz Solothurn.jpg|Amthausplatz File:Historisches museum blumenstein suedfassade.jpg|Historical Museum of Solothurn File:Kosciuszko Solothurn.JPG|House in Solothurn where Tadeusz Kościuszko was living at the time of his death in October 1817. ==Politics==

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 24.09% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (23.53%), the Green Party (18.56%) and the CVP (17.19%). In the federal election, a total of 5,767 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 53.8%. ==Economy==

, Solothurn had an unemployment rate of 4.6%. , there were 22 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 4 businesses involved in this sector. 2,587 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 178 businesses in this sector. 14,381 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 1,226 businesses in this sector. , there were 13,529 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3,598 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 3.8 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 20.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 40.3% used a private car. ==Transport==

Solothurn railway station is the main railway station and located south of the old town on the opposite side of the Aare river. It is served by long- and medium-distance trains (IC, RE) as well as local S-Bahn trains (e.g. Bern S-Bahn). Services are operated by Swiss Federal Railways, BLS, RBS and Aare Seeland mobil (asm). Two other railway stations on the standard gauge Jura foot line are and , which are both only served by S-Bahn trains. The asm operates over the meter gauge Solothurn–Niederbipp railway line, with two additional stations within Solothurn (, ) and another one () located on the municipal boundary. The A5 motorway runs south of Solothurn. ==Religion==

From the , 5,463 or 35.3% were Roman Catholic, while 4,358 or 28.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 278 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.79% of the population), there were 182 individuals (or about 1.18% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 248 individuals (or about 1.60% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 27 individuals (or about 0.17% of the population) who were Jewish, and 915 (or about 5.91% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 78 individuals who were Buddhist, 173 individuals who were Hindu and 27 individuals who belonged to another church. 3,139 (or about 20.27% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 601 individuals (or about 3.88% of the population) did not answer the question. ==Education==

In Solothurn about 5,724 or (37.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 2,815 or (18.2%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 2,815 who completed tertiary schooling, 58.0% were Swiss men, 28.0% were Swiss women, 8.1% were non-Swiss men and 5.9% were non-Swiss women. During that school year, there were Schülerbestand children in kindergarten. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In the municipality there were 2010–2011 students in primary school. The secondary school program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower secondary students from Solothurn attend their school in a neighboring municipality. , there were 2,517 students in Solothurn who came from another municipality, while 188 residents attended schools outside the municipality. ==Sport==

FC Solothurn is the town's football club. ==The number 11==

Solothurn has a special affinity for the number eleven. The Canton of Solothurn was the eleventh to become part of the Swiss Confederation. There are eleven churches and chapels, as well as eleven historical fountains and eleven towers. The St. Ursus cathedral has eleven altars and eleven bells, and the stairs in front of the cathedral have landings after every eleven steps. A local brewery has named itself Öufi, which is Swiss German for eleven, and produces a beer with the same name. ==International relations==

Twin towns—Sister cities Solothurn is twinned with: • Heilbronn, Germany, since 1981 • Le Landeron, Switzerland, since 2003 Partnerships • Kraków in Poland, since 1990 == Notable people ==

, 2014 Early times • Ursus of Solothurn († c. 303), saint and patron of the Roman Catholic cathedral in Solothurn, where his body is located • Urs Graf der Ältere (1485–1528), Renaissance goldsmith, painter, printmaker and mercenary • Gregorius Sickinger (1558–1631), painter, draughtsman and engraver • (1552–1619), poet and playwright 17th century • Jean II d'Estrées (1624–1707), Marshal of France and a naval commander of Louis XIV • Johann Rudolf Byss (1660–1738), painter of the Netherlandish and Italian classic styles • Franz Adam Karrer (1672–1741), senior Swiss military officer in French service 18th century • Franz Josef von Hallwyl (1719–1785), senior Swiss military officer in French service • Peter Viktor, Baron von Besenval von Brunstatt (1721–1791), Swiss military officer in French service and favorite of Queen Marie Antoinette • General Tadeusz Kościuszko (1746–1817), Polish statesman and American military leader, lived in exile in Solothurn • Urs Glutz von Blotzheim (1751–1816), military officer and politician • Victor von Gibelin (1771–1853), Swiss military officer in French service and politician • Robert Glutz-Blotzheim (1786–1818), writer, librarian and historian • (1789–1857), priest • Charles Sealsfield (1793–1864), Austrian-American writer, journalist and advocate for a German democracy 19th century • Johann Friedrich Dietler (1804–1874), portrait painter • (1807–1873), writer, lawyer and politician • Franz Pfeiffer (1815–1868), literary scholar who worked in Germany and Austria • Wilhelm Vigier (1823–1886), politician, President of the Swiss Council of States 1862–1863 and 1882–1883 • Frank Buchser (1828–1890), painter of notable post–Civil War American figures • Otto Frölicher (1840–1890), landscape painter • (1842–1918), engineer • Victor Sterki (1846–1933), Swiss malacologist who lived in Ohio, USA • Cuno Amiet (1868–1961), painter, illustrator, graphic artist and sculptor 20th century • Ruedi Walter (1916–1990), comedian, radio personality and stage and film actor • Oscar Wiggli (1927–2016), composer and sculptor • Herbert Meier (1928–2018), writer and translator • Otto F. Walter (1928–1994), publisher and author • Urs Jaeggi (born 1931), sociologist, painter and author • Urs Noel Glutz von Blotzheim (born 1932), zoologist, known for his ornithological work • Schang Hutter (1934–2021), sculptor • Peter Bichsel (born 1935), writer and journalist, representing modern German literature • (born 1943), philosopher and writer • (1943–2018), author • Anton Mosimann OBE, DL (born 1947), chef and restaurateur • Markus Gygax (born 1950), former commander of the Swiss Air Force • Chris von Rohr (born 1951), rock musician, record producer, founder of hard rock band Krokus • Kurt Fluri (born 1955), politician, member of the National Council of Switzerland • Esther Alder (born 1958), politician, in 2015 became the Mayor of Geneva • Denise Wyss (born 1965), first woman to be ordained in the Old Catholic Church • Bernhard Hess (born 1966), politician, member of the National Council 1999–2007 • Tom Misteli (born 1966), cell biologist and pioneer in the field of genome cell biology • Martin vom Brocke (born 1969), dentist, orthodontist and author • Adèle Thorens Goumaz (born 1971), politician, member of the National Council since 2007 • Martin Oeggerli (born 1974), photographer specializing in scientific microscopy and fine art • Krokus (founded 1975 by Chris von Rohr), hard rock and heavy metal band • Andreas Reize (born 19 May 1975), organist and conductor, Thomaskantor Sport • Edgar Buchwalder (1916–2009), cyclist, silver medalist at the 1936 Summer Olympics • Anton Allemann (1936–2008), footballer, played 27 times for the Swiss national team • Alex Tschui (born 1939), modern pentathlete, competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics • Alexander Frei (born 1954), racing driver • Marco Walker (born 1970), former footballer who played 344 games • Alexander Popov (born 1971), Russian former swimmer, won gold in the 50m. and 100m. freestyle at the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics, lives in Solothurn • Tim Hug (born 1987), Nordic combined skier, competed in the 2010 Winter Olympics • Yannick Schwaller (born 1995), curler, 2023 World Men's Curling Championship bronze medalist, 2014 World Junior Men's Curling Champion ==Climate==